


SEASON 3, DAY 73

by Aquelon



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Gen, Grand Unslam, I'm not sure if 'spacetime falling apart' counts as unreality, Lee Davenport has some anime moves and a video game doppelganger, and by falling apart i mostly mean glitching out, but it might so stay safe y'all, rated Teen for cosmic horror, so is the Peanut, the rest of the Tacos and Shoe Thieves are there but not the focus, written by reading the Reblase recap and thinking too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28511028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquelon/pseuds/Aquelon
Summary: "Stu Trololol gets two strikes, and the announcer's voice crackles on before Lee can throw his third pitch.'I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world,' they say, slightly softly.This is a fairly normal concern during birds weather, and Lee knows that.  Still, he looks at one of the birds that is pecking at a stray shell on the field apprehensively.It looks up at him, makes direct eye contact, and tilts its head.The birds might not bring about the end of the world, but maybe he's not so sure about that right now."Season Three, Day Seventy-Three.  Charleston Shoe Thieves versus Los Angeles Tacos.  Unbeknownst to Lee Davenport, it's about to be the most important game of his career.
Kudos: 3





	SEASON 3, DAY 73

**Author's Note:**

> I am posting all my Ldav or Wydove fics so that I can post new Ldav or Wydove fics and so that people will think about them more.  
>  **PLEASE THINK ABOUT LEE DAVENPORT AND WYATT DOVENPART. THANK YOU.**

SEASON THREE, DAY 73

Top of the first inning, Ren Hunter hits a solo home run directly off of Morrow Doyle's ground out. Not a great opening, Lee thinks, but in the bottom of the first Mcdowell hits a home run of his own and they're in the lead. Feathers lie thick on the field.

The top of the second inning is tense. Workman Gloom gets on base and then Esme Ramsey draws a walk and then Blankenship Fischer hits a single and suddenly the bases are loaded.

Morrow Doyle steps up to the plate, sizes up the loaded bases cautiously. So early in the game, even a grand slam won't necessarily make or break anything. Still, they're the Tacos. Lee's not confident in their ability to catch up to a three-point lead.

He throws the ball as hard as he can. It's not quite dire enough for him to want to try out his signature move, but he still tries to put a little bit of a spin on it.

Morrow hesitates and doesn't swing. The ball bounces away harmlessly. Strike, looking.

He throws the next ball, and Morrow still watches it cautiously, and it's outside of the strike zone. Ball.

The next ball is a foul.

Okay, it's definitely not a bad enough situation for Lee to need to try out his new signature move, but now that he's thought of the idea, he like, really wants to.

Maybe he just, uh, won't do the entire thing. Just put a little bit of anime protagonist energy into it…

He throws the ball.

The spin it's got on it is distinctive, and it feels so, so good to watch. It might be glowing a little bit. That's really cool!

An afterimage of that glow streaks out behind it, stretching and flaring like slightly pinkish lightning…

Morrow Doyle blinks flatly at it, and it _thunks_ harmlessly into the catcher's mitt. The afterimages disappear.

Strike, looking.

Hey, at least that's enough to net the Shoe Thieves an out.

The birds are looking at him judgementally, so he doesn't try it again with Ren Hunter even though the bases are still loaded. Ren strikes out anyway, ending the top half of the inning safely.

In the top of the third, Lee fumbles a bit and the Thieves get three points, putting them in the lead. They hold that lead comfortably through the rest of the third inning, and through the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, under the glaring eyes of the birds, Moses hits a two-run home run, tying up the game, and then Wyatt hits another two-run home run, putting them in the lead. Lee cheers extra loudly at that and gives Wyatt a high-five afterwards-- gotta support their best friend!

In the top of the sixth, Workman Gloom hits a solo home run and Ren Hunter bats in Blankenship Fischer and it's a tie game again. In the bottom of the sixth, Patel bats in Breadwinner and then Mcdowell hits a three-run home run, putting the Tacos once again in the lead.

A four-point lead feels good, even if it drops to a two-point lead in the top of the seventh, then springs back to a three-point lead in the bottom of the seventh, then back to a two-point lead in the top of the eighth. Still, they're winning. That's rare.

In the top of the ninth, the lead gets smaller. Lee's trying to pitch his best because if he does, this'll be the end of the game, but Antonio Wallace scores and then Workman Gloom gets on base.

Uh--

Esme Ramsey must have batted in either Workman Gloom or Sebastian Woodman, while one of those three got out. Lee's pretty sure he blacked out for a second. The game is once again tied.

Lee goes back to the bench and gets a long drink of water. Definitely can't be blacking out on the mound.

The Tacos don't score any points in the bottom of the ninth, so they're going to extra innings.

In the top of the tenth, Morrow Doyle hesitates for just one ball and then immediately hits a triple. Ren Hunter follows that up with a home run, giving the Shoe Thieves a two-point lead. Lee tries really hard to keep that as the end of it, and most of the rest of the inning proceeds without event.

Stu Trololol gets two strikes, and the announcer's voice crackles on before Lee can throw his third pitch.

"I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world," they say, slightly softly.

This is a fairly normal concern during birds weather, and Lee knows that. Still, he looks at one of the birds that is pecking at a stray shell on the field apprehensively.

It looks up at him, makes direct eye contact, and tilts its head.

The birds might not bring about the end of the world, but maybe he's not so sure about that right now. He throws the ball and Stu gets a ground out, safely ending the top half of the inning.

In the bottom of the tenth, Moses and Basilio both get on base. Mcdowell hits the ball and bats Moses in, and then Wyatt bats Basilio in, and then the game is tied again.

In the top of the eleventh inning, Lee stops Esme Ramsey from stealing third base, and so the game stays tied.

In the bottom of the eleventh inning, the birds are swarming the field en masse, screaming bird noises as Wanda, Patel, and Taiga all get on base. The bases are loaded, but they don't get a chance to get any points from that before Moses hits a flyout.

The twelfth inning is mostly unremarkable.

The thirteenth inning is equally unremarkable, except for that Wyatt gets all the way to third base, one base at a time, before the inning ends. Lee gives them another high-five.

The top of the fourteenth inning plays out uncannily similar to the top of the eleventh, in that it ends when Esme Ramsey gets caught stealing third. When Moses gets out to end the bottom of the fourteenth, the game is still tied.

The birds swarm overhead as the fifteenth inning starts. Two Shoe Thieves get on base quickly, and even more quickly, Antonio Wallace gets one of them to score. And then Sebastian Woodman draws a walk and the bases are suddenly loaded.

Lee's pretty sure the situation is getting out of his control, but hey, it's just a one-point deficit for now.

Workman Gloom hits a single. Two-point deficit.

Lee can't seem to find the strike zone. Esme Ramsey draws a walk. Three-point deficit.

Blankenship Fischer strikes out, fortunately, which puts the Shoe Thieves up to two outs this inning. Lee really wants to get this inning over, fast.

For the second time this game, Morrow Doyle steps up to the plate and looks at the loaded bases. This time, Lee thinks, it's definitely bad enough to merit the new signature move.

He throws the ball. Its afterimage streaks behind it in a stream of light as it goes fast. It feels exhilarating to watch.

Morrow must have decided to change their strategy, too. They swing for it, but miss.

Strike one.

Okay, that seemed promising! Just gotta do that two more times, and the inning will be over, and then if the Tacos can get three or four more points, great, and if not, no one will be disappointed in them.

Lee puts even more of his energy into this one. For the sake of better support of it, he yells "Gateway ball!"

Yelling that felt good. Lee doesn't have time to exult in that feeling. The ball moves almost too fast to watch. The air behind it starts to tear open. Is that what spacetime looks like?

Morrow swings.

Their bat connects.

A spike of pain shoots through Lee as though the bat had hit them instead of the ball.

Morrow seemingly freezes in place.

The ball shoots upwards, upwards, upwards.

From somewhere far overhead, there's a faint _CRACK_!

Lee can barely move. There's sparks at the edge of his vision and a high-pitched whine in his ears and he's seeing a lot of images overlaid on top of each other and

The bases are cleared. That was a grand slam.

The Shoe Thieves have 20 points.

Ren Hunter steps up to the plate as though Morrow Doyle isn't still frozen there, bat out. Maybe they're not. Maybe that's just an afterimage.

The birds continue to stare.

Honestly, that's justified.

Lee throws the ball-- is it just them throwing, and if so why does it feel like several someones else are also doing this?-- and completely misses the strike zone. They throw another ball and Ren Hunter gets on base.

Velasquez Alstott steps up to the plate--

And suddenly Moses Simmons is batting (shouldn't they be literally last to bat right now?) and Beasley Gloom is pitching and Lee has no idea what angle they're looking at this from but Moses swings and misses entirely.

And then Stu Trololol is hitting a triple and Lee is not watching from the mound even though he should be pitching or maybe he is watching from the mound but Velasquez Alstott and Antonio Wallace just scored off of that (or was it someone else) and the score is a three-point lead for the Shoe Thieves again, sixteen points.

And then Basilio is stepping up to the plate and the grand slam must have happened this time--

And then Sebastian Woodman is getting a strike and the grand slam hasn't happened yet--

Lee's on the bench. Mcdowell is batting. It's the bottom of the fifteenth and the Shoe Thieves are at twenty points.

Lee still can't tell what exactly is going on, with magenta lightning still flickering across their vision, but things seem to be rapidly disintegrating. Lee looks to the right, then the left.

They're not the only one sitting in the dugout.

They're not the only _Lee_ sitting in the dugout.

There's at least a dozen of them, overlapping in ways that make it seem like none of them are quite solid. Most of them are looking around with as much confusion as Lee's experiencing.

The confusing experience is heightened by the fact that Lee's not entirely sure at what part of the dugout bench he's sitting at. His perspective seems to be flickering from place to place, shaky and awkward and sparking.

One of the Lees that he can pinpoint during a moment before his perspective shifts again is fidgeting with their uniform awkwardly like they've never had a blaseball uniform before. Their hair is dyed bright pink.

Another one-- oh. Uh oh. His perspective flickers away before he can get a proper view of the Lee that looks, just marginally, low-poly, and he twists around in his seat aggressively to try and find them again.

Right there. Bright ginger hair. Looking around with an air of vague curiosity and a half-frown, seemingly less confused than the rest of them.

If that's the thing from that damn video game, if that thing is _here--_

The flickery chaos of the game outside clears up for just a moment. The Shoe Thieves score is seventeen points, so they've lost three points somehow, so that grand slam must not have happened?

Wyatt's standing at the plate. They seem to be carefully avoiding the afterimage of Morrow Doyle that is still frozen in place there.

Everything goes black, but not like passing out. It's more like a curtain of void has been pulled across the field.

This happened earlier in the season, too, after some event involving the peanuts available at concession stands-- Lee's not entirely sure of all of the details of what happened, but it sounded pretty bad.

Sure enough, there is a giant, rotating peanut floating overhead. "HELLO," it not-quite-says. "DID YOU TASTE THE INFINITE?"

Lee's not sure about 'taste', but he glances at the other Lees, apprehension turning back to fear as he sees the doppelganger again, and wonders if that's what it means by 'infinite'.

The Peanut's still not-quite-talking. "I AM BENEVOLENT," it claims.

Things are flickering again on the field. The Tacos have another point. Wyatt's on base, looking down at the base in some level of confusion and then up in continued horror, and Rat is at bat. It's hard to focus on the game, and they seem to be having just as much trouble with it, but blaseball is notoriously reluctant to stop.

The Peanut continues. "I AM A SNACK."

The birds on the field are staring. Not just upwards towards the rotating terror, but everywhere. A bird's beady little eyes are looking directly into Lee's soul.

The Peanut is still not-quite-talking, and it's getting louder: "I AM A LEGUME."

Beasley Gloom has been the Shoe Thieves pitcher throughout all of this, and he's doing admirably considering the peanut overhead. Rat gets a walk. The bases are loaded.

They could tie the game back up right now. Lee's not sure if he wants that. No, Lee doesn't want that. Heck, if they got a grand slam they could win, but…

Lee puts one hand to his head to try and quell his growing headache. A grand slam right now is the last thing he could want.

The Peanut peaks in volume and oh, this isn't good. "I WAS BENEVOLENT," it says.

On the field, Wanda gets on base, but Mcdowell gets out, so the Tacos don't score. On the sidelines, some of the Lees are starting to fade out of sight, but that doesn't feel promising. It doesn't feel like a return to normal.

The Peanut continues right off of its previous words. This time, there's a biting harshness that might not be directed exclusively at Lee if he's lucky. "YOU ARE INSATIABLE."

Every bit of soreness from that disaster of a game is crashing over Lee. Something is screeching in his ears and he's dizzy from all that perspective shifting and his vision is still filled with flickery pink lightning and he feels like he's just been hit in the chest with a bat.

Breadwinner hits a ground out. The game is over. As the field fades away, rather than ending in a vaguely physics-obeying way, the Peanut leaves one last maybe-taunt echoing in the air: "WHERE IS YOUR RESTRAINT?"

The Tacos fall unceremoniously into their locker room. Everyone else seems to be out cold.

Lee looks around to make sure none of their doppelgangers are in here, pretends that the afterimage echoing behind each movement of their hand is just a side effect of being really out of it right now, and tries and fails to ignore the persistent feeling that something is off.

If he listens closely, they can hear a faint, low creaking, like something impossibly large being twisted in the wind.

Lee slumps backwards against the nearest wall and puts his head in his hands. He stays like that for the long moments until the rest of the team wakes up.

**Author's Note:**

> i do immensely appreciate validation, e.g. comments or kudos. i would also immensely appreciate it if you would continue to think about Lee Davenport and/or Wyatt Dovenpart. thanks.


End file.
